Help protect South Carolina’s pets from domestic violence by supporting House Bill 3117

Help protect South Carolina's animals from abuse

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Each year throughout South Carolina, countless domestic violence victims risk their lives to protect their defenseless pets from harm. Research has shown that up to 48 percent of battered women remain in abusive homes out of concern for leaving their pets behind.

Children who grow up in an environment of animal abuse live in constant fear that a beloved family member will be harmed. Children often intervene to protect their mothers and pets from being battered, and some may even allow themselves to be victimized to save their pets from being harmed or killed.

To address this issue directly, Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a longtime advocate for domestic violence survivors, has introduced House Bill 3117. Spearheaded by the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, the bill encourages judges to include pets in domestic violence protective orders. A protective order is a legal order issued by a court that requires one person to stop harming, stay away from and/or cease contact with another person or, in the case of this bill, that person's pets as well.

We owe it to the countless domestic violence survivors throughout South Carolina to get HB 3117 passed.

HB 3117 is currently in the House Judiciary Committee. Please ask Committee Chairman James H. Harrison to schedule the bill for a hearing and to vote for its passage.

Click here to send a letter to representative Harrison.